2014:249 - Garavogue River Bridge Project, Rathquarter, Sligo, Sligo

Excavation took place at Rathquarter 1 in advance of the construction of the Eastern Garavogue Bridge Project, Co. Sligo. The work was carried out by Donald Murphy of ACSU on behalf of Sligo Borough Council, between 17 and 25 November 2014 under Ministerial Direction.

During earlier testing carried out in November 2013 by Irish Archaeological Consultancy Ltd 4 pits were recorded, one of which was half sectioned and found to contain a sherd of prehistoric pottery.

An area measuring 10m by 10m was identified for excavation and the four pits were re-exposed and excavated. All four were found to contain numerous sherds of prehistoric pottery which has been identified by Dr Eoin Grogan and Helen Roche as representing a number of Early Neolithic round bottomed carinated bowls belonging to the earliest type of Neolithic pottery in Ireland which is widely dated to c. 3900–3700 BC.
A total of 65 sherds of pottery were recovered from the four pits representing at least six, and probably more than eight, carinated bowls. The material consists of 5 rims, 3 shoulders, 29 neck and 28 bodysherds, plus ten crumbs.
The pottery was generally fine and well-fired fabric containing crushed quartzite inclusions. The rims are rounded to slightly pointed and everted; although only three shoulders are represented these are of simple rounded angles or short step form while all of the vessels have gently concave necks. This is a domestic assemblage as is indicated by the small number of sherds from each vessel, the wear to surfaces and edge breaks, and the presence of a blackened accretion from cooking on the external neck surface of Vessel 5 (Grogan and Roche 2010).

The pits also contained a small assemblage of worked chert in the form of debitage or roughly produced stone tools. A single flint tool (end scraper) was recovered from the area surrounding the pits during topsoil stripping of the site. The four pits appeared to be isolated with no suggestion of other associated archaeological features in the immediate vicinity.
The pits also contained a small quantity of fire-cracked burnt stone and small quantities of charcoal. Hazelnut shell fragments were recovered from the fills of Pits 2 & 3. Dr. Ellen O’Carroll identified the tree species from the charcoal samples recovered from the pits and these included hazel (Corylus avellana), elm and oak.

The charcoal recovered from deposits within Pits 2, 3 & 4 suggest that the pits were not in use at the same time with a range of dates suggesting that the site was revisited or in use over a two/three hundred-year period. The charcoal sample from Pit 3 produced a date range between 4240-3990 BC. Pit 2 produced two possible date ranges between 3720-3620 & 3590-3530 BC, with Pit 4 producing a date range between 4230-3960 BC.
Rathquarter 1 appears to be only the fourth site in County Sligo to produce Early Neolithic pottery, the other three being the megalithic tomb at Creevykeel, where chamber B contained an exclusively early Neolithic assemblage of at least six vessels, the early causewayed enclosure at Magheraboy, just 1.5km to the south-west (Danaher 2007) and a site at Ballydoogan, Co. Sligo, less than 2km to the west of Rathquarter, where four domestic pits produced a small assemblage of pottery representing up to six carinated bowls dated to 3947–3782 cal. BC and 3778-3545 cal. BC (Hession 2012).
Possibly the most significant aspect of the post-excavation results of the Rathquarter 1 excavation is the carbon dates associated with the deposits within Pits 3 and 4. These dates, ranging between 4240-3990 BC and 4230-3960 BC, suggest that the current date range associated with Early Neolithic carinated bowls (which currently appear to range between c. 3900–3700 BC widely throughout Ireland) may have a slightly wider date range within County Sligo.
Although such pits have been recorded throughout Ireland as isolated features, far more examples have been recorded alongside or adjacent to other archaeological features associated with settlement or burial such as rectangular houses, court tombs and portal tombs. Although the test trenching identified no other archaeological features within the area of the site of Rathquarter 1 the presence of these pits make it highly possible that other archaeological features may be present nearby (beyond the roadtake).

References:

Danaher, E. (2007) Monumental Beginnings, The archaeology of the N4 Sligo Inner Relief Road. National Roads Authority Scheme Monographs 1. Wordwell Ltd.

Grogan, E & Roche, H. 2010, “Clay and Fire: the development and distribution of pottery traditions in prehistoric Ireland”. In M. Stanley, E. Danaher and J. Eogan (eds), Creative Minds, 27-45. Archaeology and the National Roads Authority Monograph Series 7, National Roads Authority, Dublin.

Hession, J. 2012 Ballydoogan, Co. Sligo. Early Neolithic pits and a fulacht fiadh (12E0133). www.excavations.ie/report/2012/sligo (accessed 13/03/2015)

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